Domestication...

Chris' sister, Kelly, spent the Fourth of July weekend with us and we got downright domestic. There is an enormous cherry tree in Chris' parents backyard which provides quite the bounty of tart cherries. So Kelly taught me how to make and can cherry jam...which was foreign to me. 

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the process of making jam...for a few reasons. First of all, we were in our pajamas still. Second of all, it was messy. And third, it was 900 degrees in the kitchen with the stove on and we just wanted to 'er done. 

Thanks to Google, I found a quick and easy cherry cobbler recipe to use up the rest of the cherries. It was darn good if I do say so myself. 

Other than being really hot, this domestic thing is pretty fun...especially when you have a sister to teach you some new tricks!

Kitchen window re-do...

Yesterday, we hung new curtains in the kitchen...that I bought back in January. But they were a great deal at about $15 bucks a piece. Does that make up for the 3 months it took to hang them? Yes, these are the same kitchen windows that I made curtains for back in December. But after a few months of not being able to close the curtains completely in the kitchen, we decided we needed a bit more privacy.

The hubs hard at work with my drill (just had to throw that in there)

 He decided to play peek-a-boo...

Now, we can see the backyard from the kitchen instead of having to peer over the top of the other ones...

And we can see the side porch without standing on tippy-toes (me)...

And, we can close them completely for privacy. You know in case we want to walk around in our underwear. 

For those of you who are scared of roman shades because of the risk of children injuring themselves, most shades now come with retro-fit safety kits. Heavy-duty velcro attaches new loops for the cords that raises the shades and will release immediately if anyone or thing gets caught. It was a pretty easy fix...after I made Chris read the directions. 

As for the former window curtains, they are long enough that I can cut them in half and cover the windows in the basement. Two birds, one stone.

Kane County Flea Market

It's one of our hobbies. Flea-marketing. This time, we managed to come home without having to call Chris' parents to haul a big piece of furniture home (You may recall the posts about the Robbins table we found last fall). 

It was rainy, chilly and incredibly fun. It was also a bit muddy, which didn't seem to phase us due to our driveway and all.  In addition to lunch at our fav egg roll stand and a Bears (ugh) jersey, we came home with...

Vintage metal wheels (from a factory cart) for our future kitchen island project. Currently, the project's stuck in R&D. Chris had the pleasure of carrying this hefty pair around for the afternoon. 

Old Coca-Cola tray. Perfect for the front porch, serving drinks in the late spring and summer.

All in all, there was a pretty decent turnout given the weather. However, there are way more dealers in the warmer months. And, I've got my eye on some Polish pottery...

Um, hands?

By day, I am a pediatric speech-language pathologist. By night, a home-remodeling junkie. Both require problem-solving skills. One requires more teaching of these skills; the other requires more using. 

I got a good laugh out of a recent conversation with one of my "friends" during a teaching task at my day job. Here's the gist:

Me: What do you need to wash dishes?

Friend: Uh...a sink. 

 Me: Yup. What else?

Friend: Water. 

Me: Okay. Anything else?

Friend: Oh yeah, a dishwasher. 

Me: Maybe. What do you use to get the dishes clean? *insert gestures of pouring soap and scrubbing imaginary dishes*

Friend: Um, hands?

Me: Well, you definitely need your hands at my house. I don't have a dishwasher.

Friend: *insert jaw drop to floor* 

Yeah, my friend was speechless. I mean, how do people live without a dishwasher? Let me tell you. In my experience, 1) you pile up dishes until the sink is no longer usable, then, 2) you initiate a dish-washing marathon, and finally, 3) you smell of SOS pads and Dawn soap for a few hours. Yes, we have been taking the slightly lazy approach to dish maintenance 'round this old house. 

Naturally, we have been planning and scheming on how to improve the current kitchen since we set foot in the house. While we would love to completely remodel the kitchen, there are a few many obstacles. Um...budget being the most glaring hurdle. The current cabinet layout is pretty functional, given the low windows and large Victorian-era cast iron radiator (which makes a great bum-warmer in the winter). A dishwasher is definitely on the list of kitchen wishes. But where? Hmmm. 

 

Ideally, the dishwasher would be near the sink. Problem? Maybe not. Did you know they make 18" dishwashers? Well, what do you know? The four-drawer cabinet to the left of the sink is 18" wide. Did you also know they charge an arm and a leg more than the standard 24" wide version? Of course they do. Custom costs coinage. 

Also on the kitchen wishes list - more storage. Big surprise? Yes, we have a pantry but I can't stand to see wasted space, especially space that could be should be storage. I have my eye on the 14" or so gap above the upper kitchen cabinets below the ceiling.

Another wish? Time to play "I Spy what's missing in the kitchen"...

 

If you guessed new flooring, you are wrong...for today. If you guessed a kitchen island, you are correct. Chris and I recently watched Julie & Julia during which I proclaimed my need for a kitchen island...about 12 times. Julia had some really great islands. And, she made fabulous food. Maybe the two go hand in hand? 

Despite my whining, I completely realize that I will not be satisfied with any 'ole kitchen island off the shelf. Solution? Design and build my own. I have been studying project plans and sketching modifications for an island for months...and it's not quite perfected yet. See, there was a reason I was an engineering major for a semester (and some reasons why I switched). But, hey, those three years of mechanical drafting in high school are coming in handy. Thanks, Mr. Vruwink.

There are many more things on the kitchen wish list, but that's enough kitchen talk for right now. In a few hours, it'll be time to brave the mud pit and hit the road to my day job again. 

P.S. J.J. and Jena, I have to admit that I am VERY envious of your nice, mud-free, asphalt driveway every morning as I dodge mud puddles.

True appreciation...

I was razzed by a co-worker today (ahem, you know who you are) for taking a brief hiatus from blogging and then writing four new posts in one night...to which I answered that it is difficult to blog when you are physically working on the house.

  

So here is the one and only post for tonight so as not to overwhelm. In all the posts about the kitchen so far, I feel that the pictures do not give you a true appreciation for the floral-ness that was before I let 'er rip. May I remind you that this wallpaper was only 12 years old, pasted to the walls in June of 1998? 

In the past 2 days since the completion of the initial phase of the kitchen face-lift, I have appreciated...
1. All the help from family and friends. Really, really appreciated this...we'd have gone a bit nuts without it.
2. The lack of floral.
3. Not looking up to see a spot of something crusty on the wallpaper and wondering if it was from us or the previous owner. It's the truth, the nasty nasty truth.
4. The lack of floral. Seriously, this is big.
5. How big the kitchen really is. 
6. How big the kitchen really is and it's glaring need for an island. 
7. Chris putting all the food and other miscellaneous goodies back into the pantry so that he could find our dining table that appeared to be missing in action. 
8. And many more...


As I mentioned, this was the initial phase of the face-lift for the kitchen. We have a plan, as term which I use loosely because it is ever-changing... new countertops, additional customized storage cupboards, painted cabinets, backsplash, garbage disposal, dishwasher to name a few recurring ideas. Like some say, Dream big or go home. Well, we are HOME...where we continue to dream, mostly big... sometimes small...but mostly do-able (in time).

Before and After: Kitchen Decor

And now, the much anticipated, newly-painted kitchen. I swear "Swiss Coffee" did not look like white on the swatch. For now, the kitchen looks clean and spacious and lacking in floral decor...which will do. 

             Left: Before (during initial house tours)                 Right: After

 

 

 

 

Kitchen Weekend

My parents, Jack and Carolyn, came this past weekend to help paint the kitchen. Due to some schedule shifting, we were not completely ready to paint so they got to partake in the "joys" of the last bits of steaming along with spackling and painting Guardz on the walls before actually painting "color" on the walls. 
1. Remove the rest of glue and wash down walls. Oh, and remove the forgotten backing in "the space between" the radiator and kitchen window (even tighter than in the living room). Carolyn wins for most talented remover of wallpaper backing from behind the toasty radiator.

2. Sand down rough spots and spackle. Even though we used the plastic taping knives we still made some divots in the walls...which required some filling in. We intially used joint compound which dries slower than lightweight spackle...thus, the hairdryer was used to speed up the process. Note Chris' enthusiasm as witnessed in his "dazed drunk guy" expression.

3. Wash down walls with TSP (actually, TSP-Phosphate Free) to prep for Guardz. Guardz (Zinsser) is a awesome product that our neighbor (a professional painter) recommended to apply to the walls after removing wallpaper and before painting because it seals in any remaining glue which paint would not adhere too and would cause bubbling. Absolutely fantastic. No bubbles. I didn't actually get any pictures of the TSP fun fest (made possible by Chris and Carolyn) because I conveniently had to run to the hardware store and so did my dad...I hate washing with TSP. However, my mom is on to me and I'm seeing payback in my future. 
4. Apply Guardz. No pictures here either because we were in a hurry due to the onset of hunger pains.
5. Go out for dinner at a quaint little Italian joint down the street. Yum! 
6. Paint the ceiling...some of us. Chris and Jack painted the ceiling while Carolyn and Keri fell asleep on the couch, but not before proof was captured.

7. Paint walls "swiss coffee" (next day). As Chris put it, the Swiss must put a lot of cream in their coffee because the COLOR we chose turned out basically white. Argh. Well, at least it's better than floral wallpaper.

 

Call in the reinforcements...

My mother-in-law, Shari, may now regret giving me a coupon for Christmas that was good for 4 hours of wallpaper removal assistance. After peeling all the wallpaper off the kitchen walls the night before, I cashed in my coupon and called in the reinforcements to help me remove the paper backing and scrub the glue adhesive off the walls. Shari, Kelly (SIL) and Jenna (Kelly's roommate) arrived just after lunch.

Armed with Dif and plastic taping knives, we started to remove the backing and glue. Why plastic tape knives and not metal scrapers you wonder? Run your hand along our 105 year old plaster walls and you will understand...they are not what you call flat. They are in excellent shape for their age and have been well cared for over the years...but with age comes some sagging and some relocated material. If only this was the case for plaster walls alone. While removing wallpaper in the living room, Chris and I found that metal scrapers gouge the walls too much which meant more hours spent with spackle and sandpaper in hand. 

Shari hard at work with the scraper and spray.

 

Jenna removed the remaining wallpaper from the space between the radiator & wall.

The Dif worked well to remove the backing but the glue was determined to stick to the walls and seemed to be baked onto the plaster over the chimney. We tried out the steamer my parents had loaned Chris and I...and it was AMAZING. I completely regret not trying it a few hours sooner. Since four people per steamer is not quite optimal for efficiency, I ran out and bought another one for the cost of 3-4 big jugs of Dif...all of which we would have needed to finish the job. 

Kelly going to town with the steamer.

Ah, steamer, how I love thee.

Good to note, two steamers plugged into the kitchen blow the circuit breaker. The new steamer seemed to be taking forever to heat up...that's when Jenna opened the now-quiet fridge and asked if a light was supposed to go on when you opened the fridge. As I trekked down to the basement, I heard someone ask if the garage lights were on motion-sensors. Nope, they are on dusk-to-dawn sensors. I opened the circuit breaker box and flipped the blown breaker. Guess an outlet or two in the kitchen and the power to the garage share circuit breaker #14. 

Overall, we had a productive afternoon, removing all the wallpaper backing in the kitchen and the glue off one whole wall...a fantastic feat.

I dare me...

Just above the kitchen sink there is was this annoying spot where the wallpaper was slightly peeling from water being splashed on it. Every time I saw it I just wanted to grab hold and pull...so I did. Yup. At 10:30 pm this evening. I have the annoying any-time-you-get-slightly-horizontal-you-have-a-coughing-attack kind of cough so I figured I'd prolong that fun misery by staying up and vertical for awhile. Chris had told me that he wasn't going to be the one to start the next de-wallpapering job so I stepped up to the job...and let 'er rip. 

I have to mention that the wallpaper in the living/dining room came off quite a bit nicer (in complete sheets) than the kitchen wallpaper. 

 

So I have the rest of the week off from work which works out well since I had a squeak of a voice left by the end of today. Being a speech pathologist doesn't work very well when you lose your voice...who'd have thunk it? Good thing you don't need a voice to strip wallpaper...here's a sneak peek at the kitchen minus floral print (with the wallpaper backing still on the walls)...

 

 

Throwin' a Christmas party...old home style

Since we completed the living/dining room, I offered to host Chris' family our Christmas shindig this year last Sunday. In preparation for the event, I picked up and put away tools and laundry, cleaned bathrooms and floors, sewed Poang headrests back onto cushions (Chris' big muscles overpowered the seam when he tried to get the foam insert out of the slipcover to wash it), wrapped presents and set the table, which was the most fun, mixing the different things I've collected.

The meal was to be a soup *potluck* of sorts. So after the cleaning, I hunkered down in the kitchen to whip up some Desert Storm Chili.  

Umm, problem. While washing dishes as I was cooking, I noticed the kitchen sinks were not draining. Now, to be honest, this was nothing new...they usually drain after a little bit but, this time, it didn't seem that the murky waters were receding at all. The sink plunger did absolutely nada. 

Chris picked up some drain cleaner on his way home from work and tried it...no dice. I remember him saying "Man, I hope they are late" then hearing knocks on the front door 30 seconds later. I left him alone in the kitchen while I went to answer the door. As I walked back into the kitchen carrying my mother-in-law's soup, I heard water gushing into a bucket under the sink and saw Chris taking the sink plumbing apart.

Welcome to life in this old house...so glad I have a sense of humor along with my love of old homes. At this point, I just tried to keep everyone out of the kitchen...which didn't last long. Eventually, temporary plumbing solution in place (water turned off to sink and pipes disconnected), we ate dinner. It was delicious! Unfortuately, my pretty table settings made for a lot of dishes...which couldn't be washed...so we scrounged up some paper plates for dessert. We even got a nice family picture amidst the chaos in front of the tree (Chris, Keri, Grant, Carolyn, Craig, Shari, Kelly and Matt)!

Fast-forward to Wednesday morning. The plumber contracted through our home warranty company came and fixed the problem in a jiffy. He used a power auger to break up the clogs and said it was probably grease-buildup from over the years along with some food particles (we don't have a garbage disposal). He also gave us some helpful tips on what to use regularly so this blessed event doesn't happen again. After he left, I finally washed all the party dishes...only took about an hour.

Fast-forward to Wednesday afternoon. I threw a load of laundry in the washer, ran an errand and came back to water all over the basement floor. I immediately called the plumbing company back and told them the problem and made an appointment for them to come back out the following Monday due to the holiday and us being gone. As I was getting ready to run out in search of the product recommended by the plumber, I started thinking that it didn't make sense that the water from the washer would back up because the clog would have had to almost travel backwards. Also, the floor drain, where water would back up, was not wet. Hmmm. Something was not right. I put on my rubber boots and headed back down to the basement. Upon opening the clean-out on the pipes coming from the laundry sink, I heard water running freely, however, there was not very much water going through. This was weird since it was all new PVC pipes and just water ran in them. The laundry sink which the washer drains into was almost full and there were bubbles on the faucet...uh oh...the lint trap that slides over the end of the washer hose was missing. I peered into the murky, soapy water and spotted the trap plugging the sink's drain. Oops...my bad. I quickly called the plumbing company back to explain the issue, entertaining the guy on the other end. He laughed and said "I was just about to go and yell at a plumber." Ahh, a day in my life...not very boring lately.

Sunday afternoon projects...

"Are you as surprised as I am at how long these have lasted since we moved in?" was the question recently posed to me by Chris, who loathed the frilly, ruffly, pink-trimmed kitchen curtains to which he was referring. They came with the house. Until today, I had bigger fish to fry. 

The curtains when we were looking at the house and how they looked when we moved in...yes, in August.

 Within a few days (or hours, I can't really remember) of moving in, the top valance came down. 

Q: What do you get when you mix 1) Aunt Martha's Flour Sack Dish Towels, 2) sewing pins (which stuck into me more than the towels), 3) Stitch Witchery, 4) an iron, and 5) a few tension rods on a Sunday afternoon? See below. 

A: Much-improved (in our opinion), simple kitchen curtains that give us some privacy and let light in too. Well, they give me more privacy than Chris since I'm the shrimp and all. Now... if only there was a short-cut like Stitch Witchery for removing that floral wallpaper.